Lesothosaurus

DV-0246

Lived: 201 to 193 million years ago, Early Jurassic
Diet: Herbivore
Length: about 1 m (3 ft)
Group: Early armored dinosaurs
Found in: Lesotho and South Africa
Named by: Galton 1978

Field notes

About Lesothosaurus

Lesothosaurus was a plant-eating early armored dinosaur that lived in the Early Jurassic, 201 to 193 million years ago.

The Paleobiology Database lists 8 finds of Lesothosaurus, from Lesotho and South Africa. Its fossils come from the Elliot Formation. It was named by Galton in 1978.

The evidence

Where its fossils were found

Today

8 finds

195 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

To scale

How big was Lesothosaurus?

Lesothosaurus: about 1 m (3 ft) · Person: 1.8 m (6 ft)Silhouette: typical early armored dinosaur shape

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations.

Close relatives

Other members of Thyreophora.

Sources: Paleobiology Database, WikidataNamed in: P. M. Galton. 1978. Fabrosauridae, the basal family of ornithischian dinosaurs (Reptilia: Ornithischia). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 52(1/2):138-159